Wife, you didn't really drug me, did you?

In the main hall of the military conference in Huangzhou Prefecture, almost all the high-ranking officials of Huangzhou Prefecture had gathered.

At this moment, the military commander of Huangzhou Prefecture was sitting on the left.

Leading the group was Ni Wenjun, the deputy military commander of Huangzhou Prefecture. Below him was Chen Xiaohu, the deputy commander, and behind him sat Zhang Dingbian, the commander-in-chief of the Beggars' Army and the temporary commander-in-chief of the Huangzhou Prefecture defense battle. These three should be considered the top three figures in the Huangzhou Prefecture army at present.

As for Zhao Ya, she was already five or six months pregnant and could no longer undertake heavy military tasks, so she was directly arranged to rest in the inner quarters.

Therefore, in military matters, the three commanders were Vice Commander Ni Wenjun, Chen Xiaohu, and Zhang Dingbian, the former wartime commander-in-chief of Huangzhou Prefecture.

Next are the commanders of the various legions, ranked by seniority. First is Jin Yanzi, commander of the Azure Dragon Legion, followed by Shi Gengming, commander of the Vermilion Bird Legion, Ding Pulang, commander of the Buddha Soldier Legion, Ou Puxiang, deputy commander of the legion, Wu Daojun, the reserve commander, and a series of deputy commanders.

The people seated on the right are the civil officials of Huangzhou Prefecture. However, the person sitting at the head of the table is not Hu Weiyong, but Bai Wenjing, the Chief Medical Officer of Huangzhou Prefecture, who is in charge of the major hospitals and medical schools in Huangzhou Prefecture.

Logically speaking, a medical supervisor shouldn't be sitting in the main seat, but who cares when he's the master's mentor?

Based on this alone, no one can shake his position as the head of the civil officials. The person sitting next to Bai Wenjing is the real head of the civil officials of Huangzhou Prefecture, Prime Minister Hu Weiyong, who is in charge of all the political affairs of Huangzhou Prefecture.

Sitting to Hu Weiyong's left was Shen Wansan, the chief commercial manager of Huangzhou Prefecture, who was known as the richest man in the Great Qian Dynasty.

Following Shen Wansan was Tao Guangyi, the head of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Tao Guangyi was also a great talent with his own unique insights into gunpowder. He was a true genius, and he spearheaded the development of all the firearms in the entire Huangzhou Prefecture military system.

Muskets, cannons—those firearms that all armies coveted—were all the work of the Academy of Sciences.

Therefore, he sat behind Shen Wansan. Behind Tao Guangyi, there was another person sitting quietly, namely Wu Hong, the chief inspector of Huangzhou Prefecture. With Wu Hong sitting there, the atmosphere around him seemed much lower. In fact, he should have sat in front of Shen Wansan, but Wu Hong did not want to be too close to the front. This person was rather low-key.

After all, the jobs they do are ones that offend people, so being too high-profile isn't an option.

Behind him were some young civil officials, all trained in academies. These academic civil officials, whom Chen Jie had trained from scratch over seven or eight years, had gradually been put to use.

With them around, the monopoly of lower-ranking officers can be completely curbed, preventing those who study Confucianism from becoming too powerful.

Of course, Chen Jie is not saying that there is absolutely no merit in studying Confucianism. Confucianism had its necessity in this era, but it also had its limitations. Moreover, some of these Confucian scholars were as stubborn as mules, and Chen Jie had no interest in arguing with them.

Therefore, they directly cultivated their own officials. The current civil service system in Huangzhou Prefecture is half old bureaucratic system and half new officials. The two are combined, and whoever is more useful is used. They check and balance each other to prevent them from forming cliques and engaging in corruption.

The meeting room was now filled with high-ranking officials, who were chatting amongst themselves.

The bigwigs, however, remained calm and collected at the front, waiting for Chen Jiu Si, who was in the main seat, to arrive.

"Bailao."

Hu Weiyong then lowered his stance and asked Bai Wenjing in a low voice, "Does Elder Bai know the main content of this meeting?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Wenjing said, "Hehe, Prime Minister Hu, how would an old man like me know these things? In a few days, I will prepare to resign from my position as the head of the medical department and focus on teaching from now on."

"How could that be? You are the pillar of our Huangzhou Prefecture, how could we let you retire?"

"No, I'm too old, too old."

Bai Wenjing waved her hand, and just then, the door suddenly opened, and Chen Jie strode in. Upon seeing Chen Jie, everyone in the room immediately stood up.

"Lord!"

Chen Jie sat down and gestured downwards with both hands, saying, "Sit down."

He then looked at everyone in the room and said, "Except for Chief Zhou of the Police Department, who was unable to attend due to other business, everyone else is here, right?"

"Everyone is here; there are a total of eighty-six people attending the meeting."

Hu Weiyong then stood up and replied, and Chen Jie said, "Oh, we can talk while sitting down. Everyone, don't be nervous. The main reason we've gathered everyone here is to discuss the future plans for Huangzhou Prefecture."

Upon hearing this, everyone unconsciously sat up straight.

Chen Jie continued, "Our Huangzhou Prefecture has had a good month to recuperate. Both the people and the army have had a great rest. Although there are still some lingering effects of the war, they no longer affect the overall situation."

“Under normal circumstances, I would definitely give the people and the army enough rest time, allowing the army to recuperate and the people to catch their breath. But now the whole world has reached the critical juncture of the final battle.”

“We will not rest, Zhu Chongba will not rest, Zhang Shicheng will not rest, and even the remnants of the Daqian army will not rest.”

"If we are focused on resting and recuperating, then the vacant territories we have now might be taken over by others."

At this point, Chen Jie raised his hand and said, "Dingbian, tell everyone about the current situation!"

"Yes."

Zhang Dingbian stood up, and someone had already prepared a military map on the side, which clearly marked the division of each province.

Zhang Dingbian said, "Because of the battle in Huangzhou Prefecture, we defeated Chen Youding's Whale Shark Gang and Ming Yuzhen's Tang Clan in Fuzhou, resulting in Fujian Road and Sichuan being unclaimed lands now."

"In addition, there is our northern neighbor, Prince Qi, Li Siqi. According to what our lord said, Li Siqi was killed in Kunlun. Now the entire Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Qinghai are in a state of leaderlessness. According to intelligence, because Li Siqi has not returned for a long time, his wolf soldiers have split into several parts, each acting independently, which is quite similar to the style of the military governors at the end of the Tang Dynasty."

Snapped!
Upon hearing this, Chen Xiaohu said, "Governor, they're dreaming. This isn't the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period anymore, and we're not those spineless scoundrels. They've become quite cunning, even carving out their own territories. My lord, let me lead my troops to deal with them."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jie paused in his teacup and said, "Xiao Hu is still so reckless. Let's wait until Ding Bian finishes speaking before we talk."

At this point, Zhang Dingbian continued, "And to our east, there is the land of the five routes and eighty-one prefectures left behind by the Prince of Ruyang. This is an even fatter piece of meat."

"However, Zhu Chongba has already led his troops from Haozhou southward to recover these lands. According to reports from scouts in the south, Zhang Shicheng has returned to Suzhou and taken power. He has also transferred 30,000 elite troops from Japan, including 10,000 ninja troops who are very troublesome."

"They have begun to incorporate bandits who have established themselves in the mountains, and their military strength is expanding rapidly. It seems that they now have more than 100,000 men, and they have occupied the Suzhou and Hangzhou routes. They are about to compete with Zhu Chongba for Jiangxi and Fujian." "I analyzed with the lord that it is not advisable to send troops here. This place is a muddy mess. Anyone who enters will get covered in mud. It is easy to enter, but it will be harder to get out than to climb to heaven!"

"Therefore, my initial idea with the lord is to abandon the east, have the main force occupy the easily occupied areas first, then develop the people's livelihood, strengthen the army, and then turn around to compete with them. I wonder what the other armies think?"

After hearing Zhang Dingbian's words, everyone looked at the map. Now there was a powerful enemy in the east, and there was no one in the west that could pose a threat to Chen Jie. So now was the perfect time to expand westward.

Chen Jie's location blocked Zhu Chongba and his group's westward expansion.

Everyone looked at the map and had no objections.

Now that Tang Bao and Li Siqi are dead, their former territories are all unclaimed. We are adjacent to these places, and if we don't take them and use them, it would be a waste.

Therefore, the meeting quickly determined the policy of westward expansion. After the policy was set, the next step was to decide which general to send.

At this moment, a group of legion commanders immediately started fighting, shouting that they wanted to charge and expand the territory of Huangzhou Prefecture.

"Hey, don't try to take it from me. This time, my Vermilion Bird Army is definitely going to send troops. You can't just ignore us just because our Vermilion Bird Army was established late. That won't do. We have to lead an army. No one can change that."

"Yes, we must overtake them! Our Buddhist army requests permission to attack Shaanxi and Shanxi, which used to be Li Siqi's territory. He bullied us a lot back then, and this time we will take it back with interest!"

Ding Pulang, Ou Puxiang spoke, his eyes filled with ferocity. The memory of Li Siqi suppressing them back then was still vivid in his mind. How could such deep-seated hatred be easily forgotten?

Therefore, the two of them were to take on the mission of attacking Shanxi and Shaanxi.

Upon hearing this, Jin Yanzi was unwilling and said, "So what if you were bullied by Li Siqi? Just because we weren't bullied doesn't mean we can't attack Shanxi and Shaanxi. That won't do. Every soldier of our Qinglong Army is thinking about killing enemies for our lord. We Qinglong Army should have a share of this good thing."

……

All the legion commanders began to fight for the interests of their respective troops. If a legion commander was polite at this time, he would be criticized by his subordinates when he returned: "You can't even win back the main attack, why don't you dare to fight the lord?"

These legion commanders weren't speaking up for themselves, but for the men behind them. The answer to how soldiers could get promoted quickly was through fighting. Only by experiencing war, killing more enemies, and capturing enemy generals and flags could they be promoted rapidly.

So soldiers aren't afraid of dying, they're afraid of not having a battle to fight. Look at this battle to defend Huangzhou Prefecture, they made a fortune. Some were promoted, some received rewards, and they're all very rich.

This is still the most difficult defensive battle, and next is the war against foreign aggression, which is the best time to make a living. If they can't win a good main attack mission at this time, how can they, as commanders, face their hungry soldiers when they go back?

In life, a person's life is nothing more than fame and fortune, but for a soldier, these two words are placed in war. Victory brings both fame and fortune, while defeat means losing one's life. It is a high-stakes gamble.

Chen Jie looked at the legion commanders in front of him, each vying to be first, afraid of falling behind. Chen Jie said to them, "Alright, stop fighting. It's not that you're the loudest, but the main attack mission is yours."

After Chen Jie finished speaking, all the legion commanders fell silent. After a long while, Chen Jie looked at Hu Weiyong and said, "As the saying goes, 'An army marches on its stomach.' Before our army is to set out, can you not ask our Prime Minister Hu if we have enough provisions to support us?"

Hu Weiyong said, “My lord, Huangzhou Prefecture has grain supplies, but it has experienced the chaos caused by Tong Wei and Tang Bao, and then countless refugees have fled here. We must provide them with grain supplies to ensure their stability.”

"If we want to launch a military campaign, we will need to do a lot of supplies."

"If our granaries are to support these successive battles, I'm afraid they won't be able to afford the costs."

Hu Weiyong said, and Chen Jie paused slightly upon hearing this before asking, "Minister Hu, how big of a gap do you think there is?"

"At least 500,000 shi!"

Chen Jie frowned, and the legion commander beside him also frowned. Chen Jie then looked at Shen Wansan and said, "Brother Wansan, you are known as the living god of wealth. Can you solve the problem of 500,000 shi of grain?"

Chen Jie first flattered Shen Wansan, who immediately clasped his hands in a fist and said, "My lord, if you asked me for 500,000 taels of silver, I could solve that for you, but grain is a problem!"

"The whole world is at war right now. Except for Hubei Province, where we have a surplus of grain, all other places are experiencing a shortage of grain, and it's even rarer to find any for sale. However, I do know of a place where we can quickly obtain some grain."

Chen Jie asked, "Where?"

"In Nanyang, Fang Longwang should have some grain."

After hearing this, Chen Jie thought for a moment and said, "My third brother's place is too far away. If we were to transfer supplies from overseas, it would take at least three months or even half a year to get them here, right?"

Shen Wansan said, "It should be necessary, and it's easy to be robbed along the way. If we rely solely on buying, I can only solve the problem of 150,000 shi of grain for our lord at most."

"Two hundred thousand shi!"

Chen Jie spoke directly, and Shen Wansan wanted to argue, but he still lowered his head and said, "Alright, two hundred thousand shi."

Chen Jie said, "With these 200,000 shi of troops, the initial food and fodder should be enough. In three more months, the autumn harvest will be here, and we will have a much better supply of food. Moreover, since we are fighting a major battle here, we can also obtain food locally. Sichuan is a land of plenty and has never lacked food and fodder. So, Prime Minister Hu's shortfall of 500,000 shi is easy to make up for. Therefore, food and fodder are not a problem."

Chen Jie then looked at Bai Wenjing and asked, "Master, how is the refining of the Tai Sui Pill going?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Wenjing glanced at Chen Jie and said, "The giant Tai Sui you brought back was used to refine a thousand batches of Tai Sui pills, which is about 20,000 pills."

"In addition, we have replenished various herbs in a timely manner. Most importantly, we have enough penicillin reserves to support several major battles. Moreover, we are working overtime to manufacture it, so it should not fail us."

"Firearms, Dean Tao, what are your plans?"

Tao Guangyi said, "We have enough gunpowder. After the Huangzhou city is unsealed, the raw materials will come in. If we work continuously for a month, it will be enough to support us in taking over those territories."

Chen Jie said, "That's good. It seems that everything is ready except for the right opportunity. In that case, let's send out the troops!"

Just as Chen Jie finished speaking, Hu Weiyong said, "My lord, it seems there is still one matter that has not been resolved!"

Hmm? (End of Chapter)